Police officers secure View Point Condominiums near the corner of Zuni St. and W. 103rd Avenue in Thornton on Feb. 7. A SWAT team and other law-enforcement officers surrounded a residence in Thornton after shots were fired during a Weld County homicide investigation.

Thornton police were at the scene of an apartment Feb. 7, where police believe the suspect in the killing of two Frederick women was located. There also were reports of shots fired at the apartment building.

Weld County authorities work at a scene where a body was found Feb. 7 in southern Weld County. The Weld County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that two bodies have been found about four miles northeast of Brighton, one near the intersection of Weld County roads 17 and 4, and one in the area of Weld County Road 15, between Weld 2 and 4.

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Weld County Sheriff’s Office investigators identified the two bodies found in southern Weld County on Friday afternoon as the two women who authorities say were kidnapped in Frederick on Thursday night.

The women were identified as Sherri Pachello, 56, and Alisha Johns, 36.

Police officers also surrounded a residence in Thornton on Friday night after receiving information that the suspect in the killings was in apartment in the area of 103rd Avenue and Irma Street after Weld deputies found a vehicle in the same area that belonged to Pachello. The standoff was ongoing late Friday night.

Thornton police Sgt. Matt Kandt told The Denver Post that a SWAT team was in the area to assist Weld County sheriff’s deputies after the vehicle was located, which was associated with a homicide.

Authorities had been searching for Pachello’s vehicle, a gold 1991 Ford Explorer.

Kandt told the Post police received reports that the suspect was in a residence in the area. As they investigated, there was a report that shots were fired from inside. Residents in the area were evacuated shortly before 7 p.m., the Post reported.

The incident began about 10 p.m. Thursday when Pachello called to tell her husband that she was being chased by a dark-colored car after she had been out trying to find her daughter. Sheriff’s deputies immediately began canvassing the Frederick area, Pachello’s last known location, according to a Weld Sheriff’s Office news release.

Through further investigation, Sheriff’s deputies learned that Pachello had driven to a residence in Frederick to get her daughter, Alisha Johns, who had gone to visit her estranged husband, Cimmeron Johns. Investigators believe that Pachello retrieved her daughter from the Frederick residence and both women left the area in the 1991 Ford Explorer. Witnesses reported seeing two vehicles speeding away from the Johns’ residence, the pursuing vehicle being a black Mercedes that was commonly driven by Cimmeron Johns, the release stated.

The investigation located a crash scene near the town of Frederick and an abandoned black 1992 Mercedes was found nearby. The vehicle was known to be driven by Cimmeron Johns, according to the release.

Authorities believe that the suspect abandoned his car and took control of the vehicle that Pachello and her daughter were in after they slid off the road and their vehicle became temporarily inoperable.

Weld sheriff’s deputies combed the area throughout the night, looking for the missing women and the suspect, without success.

About 11 a.m. Friday, a surveyor working in the area of Weld County roads 17 and 4 discovered a female body in a stream bed. Two hours later, as Weld deputies continued to search the area, another female body was found in near Weld County Road 15, halfway between Weld County roads 2 and 4.

Alisha Johns told Frederick police on Jan. 24 that her husband had choked and punched her for two days after he learned she was cheating on him, Tribune media partner 7News reported, citing a Jan. 28 arrest affidavit for Cimmeron Johns.

Frederick officers interviewed Alisha Johns at a Frederick medical clinic. Both of her eyes were bruised, the whites of her eyes were filed with blood and there was bruising on her neck. She told police that she had gone to stay with her mother after the attack and that she did not want to press charges against her husband, 7News reported.

A doctor signed a police form stating her injuries met the legal standard for serious bodily injury and Frederick police obtained an arrest warrant for Cimmeron Johns on Jan. 28, however, he was not arrested before Thursday.